Chapter nine
339 Words
The Mark They Fear
Lydia didn’t realize she was shaking until Kael grabbed her wrist gently.
“Stop looking at it,” he said, voice lower now.
“But it keeps—” she started.
“It’s reacting because it’s awake.”
That word made her stomach drop.
Awake.
Like it was alive.
The shadow in the room pulsed again, but it didn’t attack this time. It stayed at a distance, circling like it was studying them.
Or waiting.
Kael didn’t take his eyes off it.
“What is it really?” Lydia whispered.
He hesitated for a second. That alone scared her more than anything else.
Then he said, “A scout.”
“A scout for what?”
Kael’s jaw tightened.
“For what wants you dead.”
The room went quiet again, but not peaceful. The kind of quiet that felt wrong.
Lydia swallowed hard. “I don’t understand any of this. I’m just a student. I don’t have enemies.”
Kael finally looked at her.
And for a second, something in his expression softened—just a little.
“You do now,” he said.
The shadow suddenly reacted, like it had heard something it liked.
Kael stepped forward instantly, placing himself fully between Lydia and it again.
“Enough,” he said sharply.
The markings on his arm flared brighter than before.
This time, the shadow didn’t ignore him.
It backed away.
Just slightly.
Like it remembered pain.
Lydia noticed it immediately. “It’s afraid of you.”
Kael didn’t answer right away.
Then quietly, he said, “It should be.”
Before Lydia could ask what he meant, the shadow began to dissolve into the air, like smoke being pulled apart.
Kael exhaled slowly.
But he didn’t relax.
“That wasn’t the worst of it,” he said.
Lydia frowned. “What do you mean?”
He looked at her wrist again.
“The first seal has been seen.”
A pause.
“And now, the hunters will come for you directly.”
- Writer
